Open AccessInvestigative study of the radiation damage on fuel clad of miniature neutron source reactor using computational tools
Author(s) -
Safaa J. Al-Hassan,
S. Beliavskii,
В. Н. Нестеров
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of physics. conference series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.21
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1742-6596
pISSN - 1742-6588
DOI - 10.1088/1742-6596/2064/1/012103
Subject(s) - nuclear engineering , neutron flux , neutron , materials science , research reactor , nuclear reactor core , core (optical fiber) , nuclear physics , flux (metallurgy) , shutdown , irradiation , environmental science , physics , composite material , engineering , metallurgy
Core conversion requires some evaluation of the reactor safety. Changes to the reactivity worth, shutdown margin, power density and material properties are crucial to the proper functioning of the reactor. The focus of this article is to study the neutron flux distribution in the reactor core and radiation damage on candidate clads. The Ghana Research Reactor-1 (GHARR-1) operates at maximum power of 30 kW in order to attain a flux of 1.0× 10 12 n·cm –2 ·s for the high enriched uranium core. Using the GHARR-1 core geometry, considering 348 fuel pins, the multiplication factor (K eff ) is calculated at enrichments of 10%, 12.5%, 16%, 20%, 30% and 90.2%. The spectrum of neutron flux generated in the 26 group is also calculated at the specified enrichments. The ion/particle interactions with the targets (clad) were studied in the Stopping and Range of Ion in Matter code to establish the best clad material based on recorded defects and vacancies generated. From the calculations and simulations, the best choice from the candidate clads based on the assessment is SiC. The calculation of the fuel campaign length gives 7.5 years. The defects sustained by the prospective clad showed low susceptibility to swelling and other forms of deformation.